Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has a target date for Proteus to reach minimum deployable capability.

There is currently no target date for PROTEUS to reach a minimum deployable capability under the existing contract.

A large-scale PROTEUS type UAS currently sits outside of the funded Agile work package that UK Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy (via SPEARHEADS) has placed with Leonardo Helicopters Yeovil, to develop a Technology Demonstrator. As part of the Maritime Aviation Transformation Strategy, the current contract aims to develop technologies and grow evidence across the Defence Lines of Development to inform future investment decisions via the appropriate commercial strategy.